Dead 60D......Water damage....

[Alexandru Cristescu]

First time in the almost 5 yeras that I have covered weddings, I broke my first camera. I had the placed the camera a tripod in a small stream to get a shot of the couple on a bridge. The tripod plate was bad and the camera came falling down..... Hit the water and rocks from... The water was about one inch, fast moving. I picked up the camera right away. Cams dead but bright side is the lens is perfect. Would rather lose a 60d over a canon 16-35mk2. Still bummed out on the 60d as their is no real cosmetic damage other than a few small scuffs on the bottom of the cam. It splashed pretty good so im assuming the water got in there real fast.. I've submerged the camera in a container of rice in the hopes of sucking the water out of it. Will give it a go in a few days. I'll keep everyone posted. Anyone have a similar experience?

[Viktor Bludov]

Keep your fingers crossed, hopefully it will come back to life and that the sensor did not get any water on it. make sure you take the battery out and keep us posted.

I had my 60D take a dive in water, it did not survive ;-(

[Alexandru Cristescu]

Sorry to her that Viktor, Did you send the camera back to canon for repairs? I didn't see any water in the lens mount arera, just a little in the battre compartment and some water seeping from the dials and the side grip. Had a little condensation in the lcd.

[Justin Molush]

Yeah, I agree with you, 60D is a much more acceptable loss than a 16-35...

Give it time - I know of two occasions (one involving a 7D, and one involving a 5DII) where they were submerged in water, no sign of life. Both owners let them sit for about a month thinking it was just a scrap camera at that point... They felt lucky and threw batteries in them after a while and they both fired right up. After a sensor cleaning, and inspection, they are both back in use...

Then again, theres about a hundred stories to the contrary, so good luck haha

[Tony Nguyen]

Contain it in "Damp Rid" or silicone packs and leave it in a fairly warm/hot area like an oven (but don't turn it on!). It'll suck it right out. Or let it bake in the sun, works too, but under close observation and moderation. I've recovered numerous electronics like that. Just gotta be patient, I usually leave it late afternoon, and DO NOT TURN IT ON until you are sure it's completely dry inside. Otherwise, you'll surely short the components inside. Electronics can get wet, as long as it has no electricity running through it. When it happens to me, I simply turn it off immediately, take out the battery, dry it off as much as I can, and go through the routine, and ONLY then do I turn it on..... and viola! BTW, rice never really works for me. It doesn't "suck" out moisture from inside the camera, nor the air for that matter. What you really want is to induce evaporation by means of heat. If you leave rice in a cool area, it will not absorb moisture, trust me, I'm Asian, I eat it everyday =) Good luck buddy.

[Alexandru Cristescu]

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it. I've placed the cam in a giant bowl of rice and left it outside on my patio in the shade. I've got dry heat here so its just a matter of time now. I have a feeling it probably shorted when it fell since the cam was running. Doesn't hurt to try. None the less a new T3i is on its way and hopefully in due time it drys up and works or goes back to canon for a repair. Wonder how much that will run me?

[Alexandru Cristescu]

Lol Tony, I'll take your word for it:) Better grab some silica.

[Viktor Bludov]

Originally Posted by Alexandru Cristescu

Sorry to her that Viktor, Did you send the camera back to canon for repairs? I didn't see any water in the lens mount arera, just a little in the battre compartment and some water seeping from the dials and the side grip. Had a little condensation in the lcd.

I did not send the camera to repairs, it was a salt water. The water got into the battery compartment and also into the lens. Lens contacts showed signs of a short and signs of rust started to show in some areas of the body almost right away. At this point repairs probably would end up costing me as much as buying a new or refurbished camera.
Looks like yours is working.... as long as the water did not get on any sensors and nothing has shorted out then you should be ok if you dry your camera right away.
I'm getting a new camera next week :)

[Sean Walsh]

I had a slightly different water issue two weeks ago filming at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Being Scotland it was raining heavily - and despite that the Z1 I was filming with kept running.

However, when I got indoors it was a different sory - the camera just wouldn't fire up.

To cut a long story short, I used some tape to rig up a hair-dryer and ran that over the camera for the best part of three hours!

Fortunately - it worked. The camera reset itself to factory settings, but apart from that it's back upand running now.

The lesson for me - buy a rain cover and a hair-dryer.

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Alexandru Cristescu

hopefully in due time it drys up and works or goes back to canon for a repair. Wonder how much that will run me?

Canon will probably refuse to work on it if they detect water damage. I read of one case where a guy had his 5D MkII "doused" with water and his insurance company cut him a check for a replacement because Canon refused to work on it even on a payment basis.

Canon's reason: In the event of moisture damage to electronics they cannot guarantee that other electronic parts won't fail shortly after the repair.

I pay a $1.70 per $100 of valuation as an annual premium with State Farm on my gear inventory, values are established from purchase invoices (mostly B&H). Insurance covers loss; theft, damage, even if I drop it (not purposefully of course), at home, in town, travelling, even out of the country.

Check with your agent for protection of what you have still working, or replacements.